price of steel

[piper]

the company i work for told us monday that there would be a price increse jan. 01, 2010. no amount was told. just to let you know for your new project's.

 

[JJuday]

Tiss the season. I was told scrap was going up by 25$ per ton on shredder steel and the foundry cut was going to get a good bump too. February should see another jump for steel, but more importantly Aluminum will be in high demand. JJ

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

Its taking more and more will power to keep my "treasures" and not take them to the scrap yard. But I keep thinking what it would cost me to by a piece of steel or aluminum for a project.

 

[olyman]

and heres the kicker--how much of the steel we are now getting,is china made!!:censored::censored: and a lot of it is from our good scrap being shipped over--and remelted--hang in there LEFTISTS,just keep getting american jobs shipped overseas because of ridiculous regulations--

 

[olyman]

Its taking more and more will power to keep my "treasures" and not take them to the scrap yard. But I keep thinking what it would cost me to by a piece of steel or aluminum for a project.

NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you know how that goes--the day you haul it--the next day youll be needing it--beent here once to often--told woman--when i scrap it--its total scrap!!!!!!!

 

[gink595]

I work for a large steel manufacturer, I haven't heard of any increase yet, we normally let our customers know about a increase so they can fill there orders before it goes up. But I wouldn't be surprised if it does.

 

[wampum]

This is fairly old news. A local steel mill gets a lot of its steel from a large shredder,right beside them. They take all the scrap metal in they can. Last winter,I took some scrap in and saw several oriental types there with suits on. I asked one of the workers what they were doing. He told me they were checking out the copper and was buying it as fast as it was coming in,and sending it to China.

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

we have to remember Metal even steel and copper is the only real monetary standard. just like Gold all that metal is a natural resource and stored labor and energy, mining and smelting.
I hope China is paying thru the nose for it.

 

[avalancher]

That friggin sucks.Im mid way through building my new splitter and still need a good bit more iron.Hate to part with the cash right before Christmas,but if it will save some bucks guess ill do it.

 

[Dalmatian90]

and heres the kicker--how much of the steel we are now getting,is china made!!

1943
U.S. made 80 million metric tons of Steel. (Remember, that's the peak of WWII)

1960
U.S. made 90 million metric tons of Steel, imported 4 million tons, exported 3 million tons.

1969
U.S. made 128 million tons, imported 16 million, exported 6 million (not counting substantial "special exports" to North Vietnam)

2007
U.S. made 98 million, imported 30 million, exported 10 million.

http://minerals.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/ironsteel.pdf

I'm not sure how much comes from China, but the steel industry didn't die, it just transformed into smaller, more efficient plants that employ a lot less people then they did in peak steel years.

we have to remember Metal even steel and copper is the only real monetary standard. just like Gold all that metal is a natural resource and stored labor and energy, mining and smelting.

Nah, Iron & Copper actually are useful and they're priced based on need. Because they're useful, there will always be a need for them.

No one in the end of the day needs Gold. It's only valuable because folks use it as a token to indicate stored value, just like dollar bills.

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

Nah, Iron & Copper actually are useful and they're priced based on need. Because they're useful, there will always be a need for them.

No one in the end of the day needs Gold. It's only valuable because folks use it as a token to indicate stored value, just like dollar bills.

I beleive that need and usefulness is infact what makes them have a real value.
You can't just make them without the raw materials and energy to manipulate them.
Just because there is a lot around us, don't negate there value. In an apocalyptic event, every manufactured Item will become barter material and Metal one of the most valuable raw materials. other things will become useless without a support network.

Gold is not just a token, it has many properties that are unique such as not oxidizing. and it's rarity

 

[gink595]

but the steel industry didn't die, it just transformed into smaller, more efficient plants that employ a lot less people then they did in peak steel years.

You are spot on with that, the company I work for wrote the book on the Mini-mills. They were the first to start with that process of steel making versus the conventional way of doing so, anymore all the old mills are shut down and the mini-mills are up. But the Chinese could put a end to us with the way they dump steel and they don't hold themselves to the same standards as we do with enviromental practices that drives $ per ton. I think if the taxes they claim are coming, United States Steel companies will be non-existent

 

[Curlycherry1]

Its taking more and more will power to keep my "treasures" and not take them to the scrap yard. But I keep thinking what it would cost me to by a piece of steel or aluminum for a project.

There was a guy on the TLC channels show "Hoarders" that had a yard full of scrap iron "treasurers". Wooo he was messed up in the head. The guy firmly believed that the price of steel was going to shoot up and he was going to retire rich by selling the stuff for scrap. The town made him clean up his front yard of all the junk. They removed like 8 dumpsters from just his front yard!

 

[ROOTSXROCKS]

Yeah I can Imagine the picture that could produce I only have straight peices of pipe and various angle beam ect nicely organized in a deed restricted community. No piles of refuge here LOL
I do Have a few very Odd or extraordinary pieces that are just for wow factor

 

[Curlycherry1]

No piles of refuge here LOL
I do Have a few very Odd or extraordinary pieces that are just for wow factor

Same here with me. My lumber hoarding is not out of control and all my lumber is special.

 

[Steve NW WI]

Price of scrap normally rises from now until after spring thaws, I think due to a large amount of the supply being frozen down/covered in snow.

I've got a junk car sitting on BIL's car hauler that I'm filling with junk out of one of my sheds. It can sit here for a while while the price goes up, unless a need for the car trailer comes up. I'm only 3 miles from the local car crusher/scrap buyer. Kinda nice to drag junked out machinery up there with the tractor instead of loading on a trailer or cutting it up.

I work in a metal fab shop, so most of my projects get new steel for a pretty good price, sometimes free if it's not much and it's in the drop rack, but if I build a splitter, the beam will need to be scrounged or bought, we don't have any structural stuff at work.

 

[aandabooks]

I was just at the scrap yard today selling off aluminum cans for the kids. And I asked the woman running things if I could take a look around to see if they have any machinable material in the yard. I teach machining at a HS and I'm always on the lookout for cheap materials.

She told me to take a look and that they would sell steel at $.60 per pound and $1.02 for aluminum. Sounds pretty high to me at that works out to $1200 per ton of steel.

 

[bigbadbob]

Tiss the season. I was told scrap was going up by 25$ per ton on shredder steel and the foundry cut was going to get a good bump too. February should see another jump for steel, but more importantly Aluminum will be in high demand. JJ

Interesting on the aluminum, I see our local scrap yard has it piled higher and wider than I have ever seen, I guess he is waiting.

 

[les-or-more]

I just got 3000lb of new plate 4 of them rolled for $.60 a pound.

 

[boostnut]

A&A, $.06/lb, what scrap yard were you at? Thats too pricey for me! We've been buying structural for less than that this year. Somebody's pretty proud of their scrap.